Roughing It

Georgia O’Keefe said it: “Anyone with any degree of mental toughness ought to be able to exist without the things they like most for a few months at least.” Well, we’ve not had a microwave for about 10 days now. It does take a little getting used to not being able to warm up a cup of coffee. That’s the worst of it. We do very little cooking with a microwave–none, in fact. Still, we have become accustomed to using it many, many times every day–lots of coffee left in cups needing to be reheated AND it’s also the device that compensates for not planning ahead. Who knew that being able to defrost something to cook for dinner had become so important?

Somehow generations of cooks have managed to plan ahead. I wonder what else, in the modern world, has become so habitual that it’s going on below the level of conscious thought? Now I know why, as a kid, every neighborhood had a corner grocery store. No microwaves, but you didn’t have to drive across town to find unfrozen hamburger.